


What’s Your Name, Man?

by ohlooksomethingshiny



Series: Zukka Week 2021 [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Sokka (Avatar) Has ADHD, Sokka is the bigger idiot though, Zukka Week 2021, idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 12:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30072318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohlooksomethingshiny/pseuds/ohlooksomethingshiny
Summary: Sokka just might have a crush on the cute boy that works at the tea shop across the street....Too bad he has no idea what the guy’s name is even though he’s come in to bring Sokka tea and get himself coffee every day for the past year.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zukka Week 2021 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2205990
Comments: 10
Kudos: 104





	What’s Your Name, Man?

Sokka and the boy that works in the tea shop across the street have an arrangement.

Every day, he’ll come over to the coffee shop that Sokka works in for an exchange. He brings a milk tea for Sokka and trades it for a latte.

This daily transaction must be handled with the utmost secrecy, as the boy from the tea shop is actually the owner’s nephew and can’t admit that he prefers coffee for fear of breaking his uncle’s heart. So he’ll usually stick around and chat while he finishes his coffee.

Sokka can’t lie, these conversations are often the best part of his day.

He’s not even the biggest fan of tea, but he takes the one offered and drinks it every day out of fear that the tea shop boy will stop coming by if he doesn’t accept it. And Sokka can’t have that. He really, really likes him. So much that he might consider asking him out if not for one tiny obstacle.

The problem? Sokka has no idea what his name is.

He’s sure that he was probably told at some point, but something in his ADHD brain took one look at the information he had been given, decided it was worthless to him and chucked it out the window. (Yet somehow he still remembers all the words to the musical that he was forced to be in at school when he was 9. Thanks Brain.)

But the point is, Sokka can’t ask out a guy whose name he doesn’t know. And they’ve been doing this trade thing for almost a year now so he can’t just ask him what his name is either. It's too late for that. You can’t just ask a guy what his name is after you’ve already progressed past the small talk stage of your relationship.

Sokka can picture it now, “Hey so we’ve discussed your relationship with your father and how that shaped your childhood trauma but can you remind me of your name again?”

Yeah, that won’t be happening.

So he’s going to have to be sneaky.

His first plan is to talk to Iroh. He’s come into the tea shop across the street often enough that Iroh knows who he is. Surely he can get him to say his nephew’s name.

When Sokka gets off of work, he walks across the street to see if he can go find Iroh. Luckily, when he walks into the shop, Iroh is the one behind the counter. He walks up and looks up at the menu while he figures out what he’s going to say.

“Sokka! How are you?” Iroh calls

He grins. Iroh’s the best. “I’m good! How are you?”

“Can’t complain, it’s a beautiful day for some tea. What kind can I get you? The same as my nephew brings you every day?”

Damn. Why couldn’t he have just said his name? Then Sokka could have been done with the whole thing. “Oh, I don’t know. What would you recommend? Or what does your nephew like? I don’t know much about tea, I’m afraid.”

“I know just what you need,” he says, turning around to make whatever he thinks Sokka will like before he can even get another word in.

“Here you go,” Iroh says, “A nice cup of jasmine tea.”

Sokka gets out some cash to pay but Iroh waves him off. “On the house. Anything for one of my nephew’s good friends.”

And so Sokka leaves with a cup of tea he didn’t even really want instead of the information he was looking for.

Next he tries asking Suki. Since they work together, she sees the boy from the tea shop at least as often as Sokka does.

After he has come, had his coffee, and left their shop, Sokka leans over to Suki.

“Psst,” he hisses, “Do you know his name?”

Suki laughs. “Sokka, he comes in here every day, of course I know his name.” Suddenly, the realization seems to strike her and she laughs harder. “Oh, _you_ don’t know his name! That’s too good.”

“Suki, please. Just tell me!”

“This is too good, Toph is going to love this!”

Sokka really hates his friends sometimes. They’re absolutely never going to let him hear the end of this. “Never mind,” he grumbles, “just forget I even asked!”

So now he’s gotten tea and been made fun of, but still doesn’t know his name.

He decides to switch his method and go straight to the source.

When the Tea Shop boy comes in the next day, Sokka is going to ask him for his number. That way, he can kill two birds with one stone. He’ll give him the phone to put his number in and he’ll have to include his name. Then Sokka will have both his number and his name. It’s foolproof.

The boy from the tea shop is nothing if not punctual, and walks in exactly when expected with a, “Hey, Sokka!” (Because of course Tea Shop Boy knows Sokka’s name. Why wouldn’t he?)

“What am I, invisible?” Suki asks.

He looks over like he just noticed that she was even there which makes Suki roll her eyes.

“Hi to you too Suki. Can I get some coffee?”

Since he has a massive crush on the guy, Sokka already has it made. Because he’s gotta try to impress him somehow. Sokka hands him the latte and is rewarded with a smile. He stands there for a moment drinking his coffee and making conversation with Suki.

As he’s finishing up and going to leave, Sokka finally works up the courage to ask, “Hey, uh, do you think I could get your number?”

He blinks at Sokka, surprised. “Um, sure. Yeah, I’d like that.”

Sokka can't contain his smile. He hands over his phone with a new contact already pulled up. He takes it and types for a moment before handing it back. “I have to get back to work, but text me later?”

“Absolutely!” Sokka says.

He returns to the tea shop and Sokka finally looks down to see the incomplete contact in his phone. He’s left his number, but still no name.

He puts in the name as Cute Tea Shop Boy and then drops his forehead onto the counter and groans. Suki just laughs at him again. “So I guess your plan didn’t work out then.”

Sokka lifts his head to glare at her. “Clearly not. Will you just tell me his name?”

“Unfortunately I am enjoying this too much to do that.”

Sokka flips her off and goes back to work.

He does text the boy from the tea shop that night after work though. And he’s just as delightful to talk to over text as he is in person. Sokka is falling even harder for this boy.

And he still doesn’t know his name! He’s also running out of ideas of ways that he could figure it out without just straight up asking.

He decides to risk the humiliation and call Toph. When she isn’t making fun of him she has pretty good ideas.

When she picks up, Sokka says, “Hey, Toph. How have you been?”

“I’m not going to tell you Iroh’s nephew’s name if that’s what you’re calling about.”

Sokka groaned, “So everyone knows his name but me? Great.”

“It’s not our fault you don’t listen when people tell you things.”

Sokka wasn’t too proud to beg. “Toph, please.”

“Sorry, Suki already bought my silence.”

“Okay, she’s dead to me.” And he removes his phone from his ear so he can text Suki just that. “None of you want me to be happy.”

‘What if you invited him to Aang’s birthday party this weekend?”

“Huh?”

“Sokka come on, use that pretty little head of yours. He won’t know everyone at the party so all you have to do is listen to him introduce himself to someone. And boom. He introduces himself to you too.”

Sokka considers the idea. It certainly isn’t a bad one. And he’d get to spend the night hanging with the cute boy from the tea shop. A win win if you asked him. “I’m going to text him. Thanks, Toph.”

“No problem. You owe me a coffee next time I see you if this all works out.”

Sokka hangs up and immediately texts tea shop boy. (Wow, hopefully soon he’ll get to stop referring to him as the boy from the tea shop… and now that he thinks about it he should probably pay more attention to the name of the tea shop as well…)

He replies pretty quickly saying that he’ll see Sokka this weekend. Sokka texts him the rest of the details and tells him that he’ll see him at the coffee shop tomorrow.

The weekend comes quickly and Sokka is practically giddy knowing that he’s going to see the cute tea shop boy outside of work today.

He goes over to Aang and Katara’s a little early to help set up for the party because he’s a good brother like that. When people start arriving, Sokka’s ready to jump up every time there’s a knock at the door.

But none of them are the cute tea shop guy.

Eventually, Suki drags him into a conversation with her and one of the girls from her gym to get his mind off of things. Well, his mind off of one particular thing.

And it works, sorta. Sokka stops obsessively looking at the door but his mind is still on one cute boy instead of the conversation he’s kind of a part of now.

Sokka’s so focused on not thinking about him, that he doesn’t notice when he actually does arrive.

He’s interrupted from his thoughts by a tap on his shoulder. He turns around and comes face to face with the person he wanted to see.

The boy from the tea shop waves kind of awkwardly and says, “Hello, Zuko here.”

Zuko. His name is Zuko.

Sokka isn’t sure if the massive grin on his face is from finally learning his name or just from seeing him in general. (It’s probably both)

“Zuko!” He says, “It’s good to see you.”

Behind him, Suki swears. “Fuck, I owe Toph 20 bucks. I didn’t think you’d figure it out this weekend.”

“Figure what out?” Zuko asks.

Sokka gives Suki a death glare and she and her friend wisely pick another location to continue their conversation.

“Figure what out?” He asks again.

Sokka laughs awkwardly. “So, you see, uh, well, I sort of couldn’t remember your name until just now.”

Zuko looks at him strangely.”Why didn’t you just ask?”

“Yeah, that would have been easier for sure.” Sokka admits, “But I just like you so much and I didn’t want you to think I was a total idiot.”

“You do?”

“Of course! Providing you your caffeination is one of the best parts of my day.”

Zuko absolutely beams. “It’s one of the best parts of my day too.”

“Can I kiss you?” Sokka asks. Zuko nods and so he closes the distance between them.

“Wow,” Sokka says, “I’ve been wanting to do that for months, I just figured I should learn your name first.”

Zuko laughs and kisses him again.

A few weeks later, Sokka officially changes Zuko’s contact name to Cute Tea Shop Boyfriend. He might know his real name now, but he really hopes this nickname sticks for a while.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is unironically from Hamilton... I thought of it while I was doing the dishes and went haha that’s so stupid then used it anyway. I am determined to name all of these after lyrics from musicals!!
> 
> My tumblr is ohlook-somethingshiny if you want to come say hi! Or click [here](https://ohlook-somethingshiny.tumblr.com/) :) 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


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